The Friendship Files: You've Met Your Match
by LanieSullivan
Summary: It's been a while, but inspiration finally struck again for a new installment to this series. This time, it is an extended tag of Playing For Keeps
Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. The plot is mine, but not the characters. This story is meant for enjoyment purposes only. No infringement is intended.

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While he folded clothes and packed his suitcase, the handset of the phone cradled against his shoulder, Lee laughed at his partner's attempt at a joke at Francine's expense and how obvious she'd been when hijacking their phone conversation the other night. "Well, I'm just glad that you were smart enough to know what she was trying to pull...Not that I'd have expected anything less of you..." He couldn't help smiling as he heard her warm, infectious laughter on the other end, but then replied with a loud protest of, "Hey! That's enough of the Scarecrow-hasn't-got-a-brain jokes. I've heard enough of those over the years," but still he couldn't help laughing. As usual, the moment was not to last because their chat was interrupted by a loud knock on the door of his hotel room.

He let out a sigh and said, "Hold on a sec. Someone's knocking and I have a sneaking suspicion I know just who that someone is." He put the phone down for a moment and yelled as he approached the door, "I already said no, Francine!" yanking on the door to fix the blonde with a steely gaze. "No drinks, no dinner, no racking up an expense account." He then gestured toward the bed where his bags were laid out and half-packed. "As you can see, I'm ready to get out of here. The case is done, wrapped up, closed, finished and so am I. I'm outta' here. Going home."

"So I see," Francine stated with an arched eyebrow as she stepped into the room and surveyed her surroundings. "I have to admit I'm a bit surprised. I would have thought you'd at least have wanted to spend the night. You know, use the excuse that it's a long drive back, you worked all day and you'll be safer driving it once you've had a good night's sleep, blah, blah, blah."

"Well, I'll sleep a whole lot better in my own bed," Lee retorted. "Now, if you don't mind, I was in the middle of-"

Francine spotted the phone's handset on the nightstand. "Amanda?"

"If you must know, yes!" he snapped.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You're going soft," she scolded. "Exactly how many times have you called her this trip?"

"I-I-" He paused when he had to stop to think because he couldn't remember just how many times he'd called her. He only knew that he kept aching to hear her voice and- "Look, what difference does that make? She IS my partner, after all."

"Okay...partner. Doubles partner?" she questioned with a lascivious grin.

"How do you think that's your business?" He fired back hotly.

"It's not. But, I can tell you just from what I've learned about Amanda that if she's not, you're not going to get there with your normal service." She grinned at him and added, "You're going to have to court her."

Lee rolled his eyes. "Would you knock it off with the tennis puns already?"

"Well, I know from first-hand experience that when it comes to women, you've got plenty of balls-"

Unable to resist getting her back a bit, he interrupted with, "Is that supposed to be some sort of backhanded compliment?"

Despite herself, Francine laughed and replied, "I guess you could say that."

"Hold that thought." Lee then walked to the phone, picked up and said tentatively, "Amanda?" He paused as he listened to her peals of laughter. "You heard, huh? Listen, the sooner I get this packing done, the sooner I'll be home, so I'm just gonna'...Yeah, I'll see you then."

"Setting up a date for a little doubles match," Francine queried in amusement. "Maybe looking to get to the Grand Slam?"

"What is it you want," He asked her huffily as he returned to his packing not even bothering to be neat about it anymore, just moving from closet and dresser to suitcases and back again.

Her face and her tone turned more serious as she sat on the end of the bed watching his frantic maneuvers. "I'm worried about you," she stated bluntly.

"Worried? About me?" He looked up from the garment bag he'd just zipped in alarm. "Why?"

"This case, for one. I have never once seen you so distracted...so off your game as you were. It's like without your precious Amanda by your side, you lost everything that makes you a good agent."

"What? You're crazy," he scoffed as he turned to head to the bathroom with his toiletry bag and began loading items into it.

She quickly followed him, leaning against the doorframe as she watched him. "Crazy, am I? How quickly did Tina peg you for a fed and shut you down because you couldn't volley fast enough?"

"So, I picked a bad cover. Sue me!" He finished his task and shoved his way past her, violently lobbed the bag into his larger bag on the bed and then whipped around to face her. "Do you happen to recall who also took out the sniper who was threatening Tina's life?" He glowered at her. "That was a match-winning point in my book!"

Francine held up her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. Look, I just..." She let out a sigh. "I don't wanna' see you go down the path you were on a couple of years ago, okay? As much as I hate to admit it, Amanda's been good for you and if you screw this up...lose this game you're playing with her-"

"It's not a game, Francine," He protested.

"I hope not, for your sake, because if it is and you lose, you won't get another shot at the title."

"Believe me, Francine, I know," he answered with a sigh. "Why do you think I've been sending easy serves her way? To let her know that I'm in this match for good?" He shook his head in frustration and sank down onto the bed. "Why are we still talking like this?"

She sat beside him and reached for his hand, giving it a quick, friendly squeeze and responded, "Maybe because it's easier that way."

"Yeah, you're probably right." He rose to his feet, zipped up his last bag, gathered them all up and turned back to his friend. "But easy or not, win or lose, this game...it's one worth playing."

"I hope you're right." She rose and looked him straight in the eye. "You want my opinion, I think you've met your match."

Lee gaped at her, not quite sure how to take her words. He shook his head and without another word, he turned and left the room, deposited his room key at the front desk on his way out, loaded his luggage in his trusty "vette, but before he got on the road, he needed to hear Amanda's voice just once more. When she answered with his name, he chuckled and said, "Yeah, it's me. I'm heading out now and you know, I was thinking...next time you're not available, I think I'm going to tell Billy to find someone else. I don't like this mixed doubles game at all." He then dropped his tone to a much lower one. "I think I much prefer the one-on-one matches."


End file.
